Blackbird Singin’ In The Dead Of Night….

“Blackbirds” by Todd Powelson

I finished this here flock of bird earlier last week. I’m very happy with how they all turned out, and am pleased as punch to have them done. I really like to draw these birds (in the face!) though, so maybe I’ll add even more to the flock over time.

These birds are based on some drawings I did a couple of years ago, and I’d always meant to go back and “ink” them in Adobe Illustrator.

It is hard to explain why I like this symbol or idea so much, or even where it comes from. As I write this, the thought just came to me that maybe it has its root in the Greek god of sleep, Hypnos. I’d never really thought about that before… but if that was the germ for the idea, I think it came to mean something else for me personally.

I think way too much on that age old question of “where do we come from, what are we, where are we going?“… Way too much. I don’t really have any answers to share, but I guess I explore it a lot in my art. You know, maybe this is a good way to explain… I’ve heard that some cultures and native tribal traditions believe that a human being has two souls. One soul comes from the stars, and one soul comes from the earth. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love birds because I just love birds. They are such beautiful animals. But as a symbol, maybe they represent that concept of the soul. Or the merger of those two souls. They are fly through the heavens in their earthly bodies… they are kind of a merger, at least symbolically, of those two souls. And maybe, at least here, that is why I wanted to put a bird on it 😉 Put a bird on that human face.